New shelves and Workbench.

Earlier in the week I made myself some shelves and a workbench.  I have been working the last few days to try and get some pots on the shelves, for my exhibition at Fleetwood Library next month.  Today I made 3 slab boxes and a single tray, I have 11 pin bowls that have been slipped and need sgraffito decorated, I have to fill a couple of cabinets so need to keep making.

The shelves are removable and I can put one above my wheel while I work

The workbench, made from the scrap wood and leftover pieces from the Shelves

The workbench stands at 40 inches tall and fits down the side of the shelves when I don't need it. 

Inspiration Part 2i - Developing an Earthenware Range

At this stage I am merely looking at Design, I have yet to make any products as I am not in a workspace.  I have a couple of ideas of forms I want to use but, will have to throw them and see, as I can't judge anything before it is made.  These are just my firs impressions of what I am doing and will be working on a bit more on development the next week or two in a sketchbook.

So the question some may ask is "If you are already making a range of stoneware with a design you like why design a new range of earthenware?" There are a few reasons and I know it can be risky to make two different ranges at once in case you get stretched out across two ranges but my reasons are as follows.

• To be creative and have a play around
• With Earthenware I could eventually source clay from lancashire
• I don't have masses of orders for 'Sea and Sand' as it stands
• With 'Sea and Sand' I want use gas firings, but with Earthenware I don't mind electric
• It is cheaper to fire in my Electric Kiln
• When teaching I often slip decorate on the stoneware (examples to follow)
• I already have some pre-made slips I can play around with.

Image from http://www.thrownclay.co.uk/wetheriggs.htm where it is for sale

Speaking with Gwynneth Rixon both here and on Facebook about Earthenware and slip decorating and the work of Isaac Button and Wetheriggs.  I have previously watched the Isaac button videos on  youtube but only whilst talking to her did I realise that I was born around 22 miles from where he worked, and Wetheriggs is the place where I first tried the pottery wheel as my wife wanted to try throwing during our first year.  (I tried to revisit Wetheriggs two years ago but it had become an animal Sanctuary)(Guy Wolff worked at Wetheriggs according to this post by Hannah McAndrew)

The Thing that then got me thinking about slip decoration was the following video:

For those that haven't seen it Jessica Fong making “Night Platter” video by Fetishghost

I know it is an old drawing but reduce reuse and recycle.

When I saw that video it made me think of my old ink drawings (which is how I got started on this project).  I had some that used red and green too,  and I fully intend to work on some new sheets for this project.

Skipping Step One of mind mapping it has already been done here.

Step Two - Mood Boards

I created the mood board digitally at https://www.moodshare.co/

From my Collections: Hannah McAndrew Mug and Doug Fitch Jug and Mug

I really should have kept a better record of what I have been looking at the last few months collecting all the images of different makers that I like that use slip decoration one way or another, I started going back through blogs but it was just taking too long, so I made a quick selection of what I liked from what was obvious and the names jumping out at me in my head.  I really want to play around with layers and textures, and the playfulness of slip that you see not long after the slip is applied.

(This blog has been sat very much unchanged for two weeks because I have been busy with other things and there are other things that need doing and I don't want the entry to get too long, so I will post it today and hopefully by next weekend I will have finished the other half.)

A good pottery holiday

So this week I have been in the South West of England, across the three counties of Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset.  There was lots of travelling because there isn't much in the way of civilisation between all the potteries, but that is nice in some ways, very much unspoilt rolling hills and winding lanes.


Wednesday

Mike Dodd's show room, this is just the smallest of the three walls covered in pots.  Mike Dodd was the first potter we visited, as we wanted to visit on a day he said he was open.

One of his big pots that I would have brought home with me if I actually had any money.

Mike Dodd's Kiln was the first I saw all week and it is just a bit bigger than the gas kiln I used to fire in at University and he complained it wasn't big enough.  I really got kiln envy this week, with my little Eco 45.

On Wednesday we also visited Lisa Hammond at Kigbeare Pottery which was about 3 miles from where we were staying in Okehampton, and when I mentioned I was a potter I got the grand tour by her latest apprentice Bethan Jones.  The pottery is better equipped than my university and I didn't want to leave, I wanted to stay there and throw.

Thursday

We started Thursday by driving all the way down to Land's End in Cornwall, we got there and the fog was so thick that we couldn't see a thing, the tourist centre wasn't open as we arrived before 10am.  not wanting to wait we headed back towards St. Ives the fog was quite thick until we came around the coast and the bay opened up before us, it was amazing in St Ives and was so much nicer than the town here in Cleveleys which is also a seaside tourist town.

After spending the morning in St Ives we took the bus to the Leach Pottery (in hindsight if I knew it was that close I wouldn't have bothered with the bus).  We took the tour of the pottery and watched the video, the guide on the tour quickly picked up I was a potter and started talking about bits she didn't know.

After the tour and looking in the old kilns, I went out to the car park to find the Apprentices packing the soda kiln ready for a firing the next day as stock was running low and they had a scheduled opening on Saturday which they invited us to but we knew we would be at John Leach's Pottery that day.

I put my camera back in the car and waited for Jack Doherty to come back to the Pottery and he gave me a personal guided tour of his studio in Bernard's old studio upstairs which was full of just fired pots and then through to the production pottery and showed me the hidden wheels.  It is an amazing space and wish I had taken my camera on the tour.

I honestly didn't want to leave St Ives and would of happily spent the rest of the week there, especially if I could have worked in the pottery, it seemed a peaceful friendly place to work.

Friday

We started Friday looking for Svend Bayer's Pottery outside Sheepwash, we got to a crossroad's where we couldn't work out which was it was and as the was a van behind us we ended up going and seeing Clive Bowen's Shebbear Pottery first (No pictures from there) though panicking about a show that is 4 weeks earlier than he anticipated he took time out to show us round his pottery and showed us his big bottle kilns, I can't even imagine having enough work to fill it ever.

After lunch we visited Svend Bayer at his Pottery it is very quiet there and he is next to the woods, you wouldn't spot it if it weren't for the chimney and the wood pile.

This is one of his Anagama kilns, this is the bigger one, the smaller one he recently took down citing that the brick were failing and was rebuilding from the ground up.  There is chopped wood every where.

Some of Svend's big pots. they just seem so flawless, they are very different to the work of Nic Collins who makes pots to have imperfections.  I asked Svend if they were hard to put in the kiln, I got a single yes.  After having a good look around I picked out a mug, paid and left him to his peace.

We knew we had found Hollyford Pottery when we saw a lone chimney as we came up the lane, potter's chimneys are hard to miss.

This is Doug Fitch's Hollyford Pottery, it seems very tranquil in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farm land. He showed me round his pottery which is the smallest of the week, but no less impressive.  He even took me down to the stream and I brought home a ball of clay with me, it is so close to such a brilliant natural resource and it is a nice colour too not like the clay I found the near my house which goes putrid green when slaked down.

Doug hard at work decorating his jug, it is still fascinating watching other potters at work and I think I always will no matter how good I get at making pottery. I had to be dragged away from  Doug's studio as I was having a good chat with him while my fellow travellers sat in the car.

Saturday

We went to the Kiln opening at John Leach's Muchelney Pottery and John Leach did some amazing demo's.  He even gave me a one to one demo on pulling handles off of a pot the pot in question was a spoon rest which he said was the strangest piece of work he has ever put a handle on.  He is so warm and friendly, and teaches like a caring grandfather when it comes to giving criticism.

This is the middle of three chambers in John Leach's Kiln, with the front part already emptied read for everyone turning up.  By the time we left the table of seconds was empty and quite a number of the signed pieces had been bought too.  Everything seemed to be selling well and it is definately a well marketed event.  Nick Rees told me about the kilns and about the various work that they do.

The last potter on our trip was Paul the Potter, just 15 minutes away from Muchelney Pottery at Barrington Court, once again I forgot my camera.  I loved talking to Paul and looking around the pottery and  at the buildings he was in, we don't have those sorts of barns up here in Lancashire not with proper tiles etc. He has some amazing plans for the future and another potter I will definately visit again.

Thanks to Doug Fitch, Paul Jessop, Mike Dodd, Lisa Hammond, Svend Bayer, Clive Bowen, Jack Doherty, John Leach, Nick Rees and all the apprentices (and a few other potteries I can't remember the names of) Thank you for letting me in and looking around, I just wish I had taken a few more photographs, but I always feel awkward taking photos of people especially when my young brother is a photographer and was with me.

After this week though, I want to be part of something big, something that is more than one man, I want to look for an apprenticeship again.  I would love to work in the Leach Pottery but without being able to drive it is a long way from here in Lancashire.

I have lots to do this week, hopefully going to pick up some supplies from Pilling this week, to rush make some things for Christmas.

Out to Work

                                           Photo by Benjamin Travis
This week the pottery studio at the Mill will be closed as we are working in Fleetwood at the Marine Hall teaching workshops Tuesday to Friday.  We are doing Coil pots, Treasure Box, Plaster Casts and a Mural that we are making there on site.

The Marine Hall Garden's are being re-landscaped at the moment, don't let that put you off, we will still be working there.

From the Council Website:
"Pottery Classes for Children

Tuesday 16th August 2011 - Friday 19th August 2011
Red Fox Pottery are providing a range of pottery projects for children aged five and upwards. Find an object on the beach and use your plaster casts to make a treasure box. Or decorate a tile - one for you and one to make a tile panel for the Marine Hall. If pots are your thing, try making an easy coil pot. All items will be taken to Red Fox Pottery to be fired and can be collected from either Marine Hall or the pottery in Thornton Cleveleys. Sessions held at the Marine Hall, Fleetwood. Two sessions 10am - 12pm and 1pm - 3pm. Cost: £5 per child per session. Suitable for 5 - 14 year olds.
Further Information: 01253 887693"

Manchester Museum

I have been busy in the pottery preparing for our week at the Marine Hall next week, very nervous about everything, I want it to be a success.  The pottery is closed Monday to Friday next week, so no one will be there to help you out if you need anything, if you do need anything while we are away please contact me at Joseph at redfoxpottery dot com . 

So I haven't made much over the last week, creatively I feel a bit stuck with my pottery.  Not sure what to make, I really have enough stock of the bits I like, and have started firing the cupcakes so I can show pictures of them soon.  I also made a crackle glaze for my wife which needs testing in today's kiln.

Yesterday we went to the Manchester Museum to see Stan the T-Rex, and I got photographing the pottery collection.  Definitely a place to take Anthea to again so she can get some reference for different animals as they have a taxidermy section too.

Pots Pots Pots

Here are a few pots from my backlog.

There are a lot of storage jars, cookie jars and various sorts of vases.  I am being experimental with the forms.

If you have any questions please ask.  .

This is perhaps one of my favourite pieces from all the firings

Inspiration and Development Updates.

This week has been a week that I have found a little inspiration, even more so today than any other day my determination is fired and I want to keep going, only thing is I have a Sunday off and then Monday is my little boy's 3rd birthday so I am taking the day off too, whether I will still have this fire then is another matter! I shall just have to doodle what I want to make.

This weeks blog is also a little photo heavy, I do apologise if your internet speed is slow.

These are the slab pieces I showed in an earlier blog entry, as you can see they have been alter, slipped and in parts burnished.  I want to try a little more development with these see if with can make something that is a bit more special.

The taller of these storage jars is 9 inches high, I keep thinking about glaze for these even though they are still very wet and I don't know how long it will be before  they are dry enough to fire it depends on the weather, hopefully it will pick up as it has been very damp and cold again.  The bigger work doesn't like this time of the year, it is a very slow process.  I have thrown these storage jars like this as an alternative to throwing too many vases. as a few people whp have come in have said that they have enough vases but they like the idea of a storage jar.

The lids have feet on them so they sit inside the jar rather than having altered the rim of the pot itself.  I wanted the lids to look a bit like Richard Batterham's but they don't have that same flatness as they meet the rim.

My wife earmarked this page in Phil Roger's Throwing Book ages ago.  These particular jugs were by Svend Bayer.  I didn't like the look of them at first so I had been avoiding marking them.  This week I decided I couldn't put it off any longer so I drew a quick sketch which I put on my wheel's back board got 1.6kilos of clay and went to work.

This is my Svend Bayer inspired jug, I liked it so much that I actually smashed up two green jugs that were actually dry enough to fire but had never really liked them so they have already broken down in the the reclaim buckets.  I had seen a little of Svend Bayer in magazines and had been told to look at them for my own work but didn't like them, not until this week especially today.
I have also been looking at the work of Jim Malone after reading an article about him in Ceramic Review which all lead me to look at the Modern Pots Website which is part of the Goldmark Gallery.  I had a look at going on the traint o see some of the work in person but it is a 4 hour train journey, you can get to London in less if you are willing to pay through the nose, not that the train would be cheap with an estimated cost of £55 on the train or £60 for a friends petrol.

I threw 4 smaller mugs with varying success during yesterday, the tallest one was a demo for my 6 year old cousin and 3year old nephew, as I was pulling the spout for it my nephew jumped on the shimpo's pedal sending it spinning and scared me half to death.

These are the various vase forms I have thrown after they have been trimmed and chattered which I seem to do more and more but I am trying to make very deliberate decisions about these details now.

Someone when I was in my first second year at University said that throwing small was harder than throwing big, and in someways it is to be that fine and delicate and produce something that is a miniature version of what I have been working on.  I made them because I was cold at 3pm and if I throw I get warm quick, or maybe I just forget that I am cold.  I found a couple of bits of scrap clay in a few different bags and decided to throw the pieces I had.

This is the second tallest of the miniature pots next to a full size one that is just under 30cm.

I think I am going to try and work on storage jars, but I need to produce some more domestic ware as I have been avoiding it.  I have to make another 17 small bowls at some point.  I filled a box with all the bisque pieces that I have done and it is now safely at the shop waiting for some bookings.

I want to experience some more good pots, I don't want to have to wait till all the events in the summer.

It is looking more and more like I need a reduction kiln, I hate not being able to do it myself, I feel so helpless.

Well I'm off to paint now.

Tygs

I first saw a Tyg 3 years ago when I was doing a tourism project for University and the Tutor took us into the Harris Museum Preston to have a look at all the pottery there because they have a very large collection of pottery, not much from the last 100 years but it is extensive before then.  Where there they showed us what they called a Tyg which was a big mug with multiple handles.

Skip forward to last year and I was reading Paul the Potter's blog and he made a vessel that he called a wassail,  though I couldn't remember what they called them, so I contacted the Harris Museum and got told the were called Tyg's and if I made one they show the pot across all their sources of facebook and twitter and all their e-news feeds.

So over a week ago I made not one but three.

 the one on the left was made from a kilo of clay and the one on the right 50grams, as I decided to make a miniature version to see if I could make handles small enough, I just rolled a coil and then flattened it out.

This one is made from 2 kg of clay and is over double the volume of the 1 kg version.

Lancaster Exhibition

As I mentioned in a previous post I am in an exhibition at Gallery 23 in Lancaster which is our county town.  My friend works up in Lancaster and took some photographs for me as I have been unable to travel there as it takes forever to commute there as a non driver.

 The middle two shelves contain all my work, it is made with a "porcelain white" stoneware, it isn't the nicest clay to throw and resists heavily anything you want to do with it and it would rather "snap off2 the wheel head as you are trying to put finishing touches to it than do what you want.

 This is a teapot by Dave Harper my old Head of Course at UClan, the stand is stoneware, but the teapot I think is slipcast porcelain.

And these final pieces are by Geoff Wilcock the technician at UClan who was instrumental in inspiring my throwing and taught me how to centre clay and make some basic forms a few years ago.  His Porcelain Teapots are made by throwing the clay in a tall form drying the surface and then stretching them out, it was always interesting watching this happen.  His work is thrown at what seems to be twice the size and then shrinks every firing it is in.